As Arsenal are about to finish a fifth successive season without a trophy, pundits, journalists, bloggers and fans have started to draw their own conclusions.

Projections are made for next season, players who should leave and arrive are listed and demands are made of the manager to splash the cash.

Although I agree that some new faces would be welcome, my actual hopes lie elsewhere and are for the long term. Let me justify my optimism by drawing parallels between Arsenal and two other teams.

The first one is close to my heart albeit not as close as the Gunners! The France national team, under the current manager, seem to be playing below their expected high standards.

However, football fans of my generation will remember the days when qualifying for a major tournament was celebrated the way the Spurs fans did the other night for their first league victory against Arsenal in over ten years.

French football went from the dark days of the ’60s and ’70s, when a 3-0 spanking by Portugal or Belgium and a 5-0 humiliation at Wembley were the bread and butter, to the ecstatic and delirious moments of winning the World Cup and the European Championship. Les Bleus did not do so by accident, nor by chance.

In 1972, FFF (i.e. the French FA) decided to create an academy (called INF – Institut National de Football) that would be home to all youngsters wishing to embrace a professional career. This laid the foundations for a systematic and rigorous approach for detecting, nurturing and developing talent.

The first graduates were barely good enough for the average top division sides but slowly INF, based in the small and posh town of Vichy, started to produce flair players. Most importantly, the apprentices received an education so they could find a job should they fail in their quest of a career in football.

Back then it was a crucial factor for convincing parents to send their kids to become professional athletes. The INF philosophy was adopted by the clubs throughout the country, with the likes of Nantes and Auxerre making it a viable business model.

In 1990, the academy moved to Clairefontaine, a small village 30 miles south of Paris. A year later Thierry Henry and William Gallas were amongst the new recruits, followed by Nicolas Anelka in 1992. In subsequent years, other familiar names include Louis Saha, Jeremy Alliadière and Abou Diaby.

The first major trophy won by France was the European Championship in 1984 and was the reward for an exceptional generation of players. Two other pieces of silverware were collected in 1998 and 2000 partly thanks to the art of a genius named Zinedine Zidane.

However, it was the long term vision of FFF that made it possible, by providing the required infrastructure for producing top footballers. INF was the engine that drove French football from mediocrity to excellence.

From its inception to the first tangible results though, almost 30 years passed. French football fans under the age of 40 cannot grasp that but ask older followers and they will tell you that the success was worth the wait.

The second team I want to use for my argument is one we crossed swords with on the European stage a few weeks ago. We were beaten fair and square and we received an indication of the task that lies ahead if we want to reach the high standards we aspire to.

Of course, like many Gooners I wonder what might have been if we had our first eleven fit for both games but that’s another debate.

It is no coincidence that this Barcelona side reminds me of the Ajax of my childhood, even more frightening and possessing more pace. The majority of their key players and their current manager have been shaped in the same mould, imported from Holland to Catalonia by Johann Cruyff.

Thanks to the Dutchman, the genes of technique, movement and vision are implanted into the bodies and minds of the kids who kick the ball at Barca’s cantera.

Cruyff played for Barcelona from 1973 to 1978 and managed them between 1988 and 1996. More than their first ever European Champions Cup, won in 1992, Barcelona are indebted to him for his legacy.

Granted, the Catalan club were never short of money and even in the pre-Bosman era, Cruyff had managed to assemble a side, often referred to as The Dream Team, comprising of Spanish and foreign internationals. However he also insisted in developing the club’s academy and in promoting talented players like Pep Guardiola.

Cruyff’s Barcelona were spectacular but not invincible. The season after having lifted the most prestigious European trophy, they got knocked out in the qualifying round by CSKA Moscow. A year later they were back in the final and the clear favourites, only to be thrashed 4-0 by AC Milan. And yet, they will always be remembered as one of the greatest sides ever.

The Dutchman’s insistence that the teams, at all levels within the club, should play his way, was to become the key to the success of the Blaugranas during his reign and afterwards. Once the desired style of football was mastered throughout the ranks, it became Barcelona’s trademark and identity, something that cannot be lost or altered even when competition gets stiffer or trophies become scarce.

So building solid foundations (an academy along with its supporting
infrastructure) and acquiring a style of play that reflects the football values and principles to which every player adheres from a young age, have proved to be recipes for success in a sustained way.

The catch is that this method requires patience, a rare virtue in the world of professional football.

Arsenal are fortunate enough to have a manager who, not only has patience in abundance, but also has the humility to place the club’s future above his own immediate fate.

Thanks to his wisdom and vision, in years to come, the academy will propel into the first team more players of the calibre of Jack Wilshere and Kieran Gibbs and they will all play the Arsenal way.

Success and silverware will follow, simply because they will be the natural consequences to reward the hard work. Be patient but be prepared because it is coming.

To sign off, I would like to share one of the greatest quotes I have ever come across. It is from Charles Goodyear, the man who dedicated his life to the invention of the process that makes rubber usable at all temperatures. He died in poverty and did not benefit personally from the commercial use of his invention and yet said :

I am not disposed to complain that I have planted and others have gathered the fruits. A man has cause for regret only when he sows and no one reaps.

I am sure Arsène Wenger will never have cause for regret, for we will surely reap the benefits of the Arsenal vision.

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A bit About The Author:

Maziar’s love for the Gunners has its roots in his childhood. Born and raised in Iran, Maz discovered the Arsenal side of 1970-71 through the English football magazines. Even after moving to France in 1974 he continued to follow the Arsenal.

Maz works as an IT Consultant in the Telecom industry and lives in London, though his job shuttles him between London and Paris. He attends most of the Arsenal home games and the occasional away game.

He also keeps an eye on the French, Spanish and Italian leagues and like the other writers at Stone Cold Arsenal Towers, he eats, drinks, sleeps and breathes Arsenal and football.

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